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CSA - Coordination and support action

Objective

The project Towards a World Forum on Raw Materials (FORAM) will develop and set up an EU-based platform of international experts and stakeholders that will advance the idea of a World Forum on Raw Materials (WFRM) and enhance the international cooperation on raw material policies and investments.

The global use of mineral resources has drastically increased and supply chains have become ever more complex. A number of global initiatives and organizations have been contributing to knowledge and information transfer, including the EC, UNEP International Resource Panel, the World Resources Forum, the World Material Forum, the OECD and others. It is widely felt that improved international resource transparency and governance would be beneficial for all, since it would lead to stability, predictability, resource-efficiency and hence a better foundation for competitiveness on a sustainable basis.

The FORAM project will contribute to consolidate the efforts towards a more joint and coherent approach towards raw materials policies and investments worldwide, by closely working with the relevant stakeholders in industry, European and international organisations, governments, academia and civil society. Synergies with relevant EU Member States initiatives will be explored and fostered. The project will in particular seek to engage the participation of G20 Member countries and other countries active in the mining and other raw materials sectors, so that experiences will be shared and understanding of all aspects of trade in raw materials will be increased.

By implementing this project an EU-based platform of international key experts and stakeholders is created, related to the entire raw materials value chain. This platform will work together on making the current complex maze of existing raw material related initiatives more effective. As such, the FORAM project will be the largest collaborative effort for raw materials strategy cooperation on a global level so far.

This strategy aims at maintaining awareness of FORAM, informing on achievement of milestones and on any potential issues of interest, and promoting exchange of ideas on both the level of all stakeholders involved and to broader stakeholder community institutions and organisations.

This Vision document will reflect core values of the main stakeholders identified in the FORAM project, and help orient strategic decisions and plans. It will contain a mechanism able to systematically monitor global supply and trade trends related to raw materials in order to update the agenda of the FORAM platform.

The Strategic Position will contain definition of goals, a SWOT analysis, scenarios, focus areas and key success factors for a future WFRM. In addition it will identify strategic assets and capabilities needed to reinforce or build up competitive advantages and outline organisational structures.

Procedures on ethics requirements includes (a) and informed consent procedure for workshops, conferences, events with external participants and surveys and interviews, (b) for the protection of personal data (POPD) and (c) for consortium members from non-EU countries.